A special night for the No. 17

The pregame coin flip had extra significance for a couple of guys wearing the No. 17 Saturday night at Fisher Stadium.

Andy Romans is Lafayette's preseason All-American linebacker and team cocaptain. Dean Duchak is a senior fullback who didn't even dress in the Georgetown opener last week but was designated as a game-week cocaptain for the game in Easton.

The overwhelming majority of fans in the stands probably didn't even watch. The coin flip is not big stuff -- usually. But the families of Romans and Duchak had to be especially proud when, while cocaptains routinely shake hands, the greeting between Romans and Duchak was almost a hug, as they patted one another on the helmet and also tapped helmets.

Give credit to Hoyas' coach Kevin Kelly for the magnanimous gesture on behalf of Duchak, who didn't figure to play in the game itself.

You see, Romans and Duchak have a history. They are best friends. They also were teammates on the St. Joe's Regional team that won a New Jersey state championship in their senior year there. This was their final meeting; it was a poignant one, even if only a couple of handfuls of people understood its meaning

Romans gave Lafayette fans a scare in the second quarter when, at the end of one play, he did not get up. After some time, he got to his feet, walked off the field and headed for the locker room. He returned to the lineup a short time later, and his injury was reported to be a hyper-extended elbow.

OK everybody, a collective sigh of relief. It may be true that no one is indispensable, but Romans is as close as it gets when it comes to the defense.

HIS NAME IS ROB, I KNOW

I was a couple of hours early for the game, and my day was immediately off on the wrong foot.

One of the RCN guys in the press box asked me if someone back on the desk had made a mistake in the lead to last week's Lafayette-Marist football game. I didn't realize there had been a mistake, so I said, "Must have been."

Then I looked at the story in my computer. And there it was, screaming out at me. I called Lafayette quarterback Rob Curley Ron. I'd like to blame it on the fact that I was still working off the rust of a long layoff from covering football. I'd like to blame the fact that it was a night game with a tighter-than-usual deadline.

But the truth of the matter is, I screwed it up. And then when I checked the story after finishing it, I read right over it. It's one of those things you just know that you know. But I blew it.

So, sorry, Rob -- and all others who were ready to hang me. His name is ROB. His name is ROB. His name is ROB. And, know what? I'm going to be using it a lot.

NOT ALWAYS PRETTY, BUT A 'W' IT IS

This Lafayette team is still a puzzle to me. The offense has lots of weapons -- a pair of evenly matched runners in Mo White and Tyrell Coon (or, if you like, Boom and Coon) and sure-handed receivers like Shaun Adair and Tim Watson. The offensive coaches can script a game plan with lots of variety, and the Leopards have the talent to pull it off. But I'm not yet convinced that they're ready for the Patriot League's prime time -- Colgate, Holy Cross and Fordham. Fortunately, those games are well in the future.

Neil Goldsmith had a picture-book interception -- stepped right in front of the intended receiver, snagged it and returned it 37 yards. But his teammates were ragging him after the game for not "taking it to the house." The interception came when the score was still 10-0 and Georgetown was showing plenty of spunk.

Hoyas Coach Kevin Kelly juggles his two quarterbacks -- sophomore Keerome Lawrence and freshman James Brady -- in what sometimes looks like a shoot-from-the-hip approach. In the team's touchdown drive, for example, Brady completed four passes, one of them going for 53 yards. But when Georgetown got to first-and-goal on the Lafayette 2, in came Lawrence. He threw an incomplete pass, but then he made a great play in the triple-option attack to score the TD. Brady was 12-for-28 passing, Lawrence 9-for-12. Lawrence led the Hoyas in rushing with 47 yards.

Mark Leggiero, who is as solid a tackler as Lafayette has on that stingy defense, let Lawrence elude his grasp on a fourth-down play in the second period. Lawrence turned it into a 20-yard gain. But a short time later, when Georgetown had to settle for a field goal, Andrew Poulson blocked the attempt to prevent the score. And later, when Georgetown had a fourth-and-2 on the Lafayette 33, Leggiero combined with Goldsmith for a big stop against Keerome to prevent the first down